All-rounder says he is ready to wear bands in Oval quarter-final as ICC warns
England batsman his stand has overtly political message and breaches
clothing regulations

Moeen Ali’s wristband protest is likely to inspire copycat incidents this weekend in the NatWest T20 Blast quarter-finals as players line up to support the England all-rounder.

Ali informed the England management on Monday night that he would not wear the bands on day three of the Test on Tuesday, pre-empting a decision to ban them by the International Cricket Council.

He was warned by David Boon, the match referee, not to wear the bands – which said “Save Gaza” and “Free Palestine” – again during the Test as they were judged to have an overtly political message and thus breached the ICC’s clothing regulations.

“The ICC equipment and clothing regulations do not permit the display of messages that relate to political, religious or racial activities or causes during an international match,” the ICC said in a statement.

It is a decision that was criticised by fellow international cricketers and Surrey’s Azhar Mahmood even indicated that he would wear the bands in a quarter-final tie at the Kia Oval against Worcestershire on Saturday.

“Moeen Ali has every right to take this stand,” Azhar said. “If I was in Moeen’s case I wouldn’t mind getting fined if people realise what’s going on and one life is saved.

"All we can do is make people aware of the situation. I can wear the bands. I’m ­playing in the quarter-final and if I can find one, I can wear it in Saturday’s quarter-final.”

County matches are played under the jurisdiction of the England and Wales Cricket Board rather than the ICC, meaning that Azhar is unlikely to be punished if he wears the wristbands in a match which will be shown live on Sky.

The ECB has backed Moeen’s right to wear the bands and it would be double standards then to punish Azhar or any other cricketers who follow suit.

When the ICC’s decision emerged an hour before play started at the Ageas Bowl, it was labelled a “complete joke” by Kabir Ali, Moeen’s cousin who plays for Lancashire and who appeared in one Test England 11 years ago.

Azhar wrote on Twitter: “We have always worn wristbands or ribbons when showing support 4an incident or raising awareness, we do it for animal rights too, why not humans.”

Support for Moeen has been widespread across the game but he was criticised by Steve Harmison for making a stand while playing for England. The former England fast bowler believes Moeen was being “naive”.

Moeen was unaware that he could be in trouble with the match referee until he was told by the England management that the ICC was investigating the incident on Monday night.

As a player new to Test cricket, and still coming to terms with how playing for England raises a cricketer’s profile, Moeen would probably not have realised the attention he would draw to himself and his family, who were not commenting on the matter on Tuesday night.

“He’s been a silly boy, I think,” said Harmison, who is working at the Test match as a summariser for BBC radio. “He shouldn’t be wearing it. He’s a cricketer, it’s a cricket field and he shouldn’t be wearing that. I think he has been a bit silly and naive.

“He does feel strongly about this, but it should not be on the cricket field. If he wants to do it away from the field, that’s fine, nobody has any problems with that. To do it on the cricket field, I think, is a dangerous thing to do.

"I don’t think anybody in the ECB knew he was going to do it. I believe if they knew he was going to do it, the ECB would have stopped him wearing it. I don’t think the ECB has really condoned it.”

Moeen’s county, Worcestershire, are backing their player and will not prevent him from wearing the bands if he is cleared by the England management to play on Saturday.